Fundamental civil and human rights are denied. Crimes of war and against humanity repeat without redress. Wanting to live free in sovereign Palestine is called terrorism.

Punitive taxes are imposed. Few services are provided. Vital ones are lacking or inadequate. Palestinian lawmakers are imprisoned for belonging to the wrong party.

Fishermen are attacked at sea. So are farmers working their land. Trying at the wrong time risks arrest, injury or death. Crops and orchards are destroyed. Settlers commit regular attacks. Courts provide no help.

Gaza is suffocating under siege. Scoundrel media policy enforces coverup and denial, blame the victim, and portray Israel as the region’s only free democratic state. Reality reflects police state harshness. It persists without end.

Even Jews challenging injustice are targeted. Rogues tolerate no opposition. Israeli ones have few equals.

AI’s 2012 annual report “is highly critical of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians….” It charges Israel Defense Forces with “frequent” use of “excessive, sometimes lethal force against demonstrators in the West Bank and civilians in Gaza.”

Nimer Fathi Nijem intervened to help him. Settlers opened fire. He incurred face and neck wounds. Bassam thought he would die. He was hospitalized with severe damage to his right cheek, left ear, and jaw.

Clashes continued for another two hours. Soldiers intervened. They assaulted Palestinians, not settlers, with tear gas and rubber bullets. Incidents like this repeat often.

(2) On May 20, Muhammad ‘Aqel Mur’s crops were set ablaze. Two settlers were responsible. Muhammad approached. They hurriedly left.

Two settlers were apprehended. “Muhammad is not optimistic that they will be held to account.” It rarely happens. Occasionally settlers are questioned and released without further action.

(3) On May 17, Hamza Zeid ‘Allan saw his father’s car on fire. Three arsonists were spotted leaving the scene.

Hamza notified the Israeli Coordination office nearby. Police and military forces arrived to investigate. A complaint was filed. No further action was taken.

(4) On May 17, settlers destroyed 33 fruit trees belonging to Muhammad ‘Abd-al-Hamid al-Sleibi. He and his family relied on harvested crops for income since 1959.

In April, settlers destroyed his olive groves and over 30 vine trees. They left behind “price tag” and “revenge” slogans. They reflect repeated vandalism and other violent incidents. Extremist settlers commit them with impunity.

“Mumammad and his lawyer are still waiting for an appointment with the Israeli Civil Administration regarding this incident.” They expect little help. Settlers act lawlessly with impunity.

On May 26, armed settlers launched multiple attacks on Palestinian villages near Nablus. Farmers were attacked on their land. One was shot and wounded. He was struck in the abdomen and hospitalized.

Farmlands were also set ablaze. Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Palestinians defending their property. One arrest followed. Palestinians don’t know what’s worse – marauding settlers or soldiers defending their right to commit vandalism and other crimes with impunity.

On May 25, Adalah headlined “Adalah to Government and Knesset: “Sanctioning Construction on Private Palestinian Land in the West Bank Violates Israeli and International Law,” saying:

If passed, Knesset bills will “legalize building on private Palestinian land in Israeli Jewish settlements in the West Bank.”

Adalah attorney Suhad Bishara said doing so amounts to large-scale lawless confiscation of Palestinian land. Resources on it will be lost. Israeli wants all valued parts of Judea and Sameria Judaized.

Palestinian rights are systematically denied. State terror is policy. Adalah knows petitioning for what’s right has little chance of succeeding. Nonetheless, it persists like other human rights groups. Palestinians deserve that much and more. So does everyone.

“Israel is less popular among young Americans than ever before” for good reason. Doing the wrong thing long enough attracts attention. It’s encouraging to see young people understand, including Americans.

They’re assaulted by one-sided pro-Israeli scoundrel media. For them, the harshest Israeli policy is justified. Palestinians are vilified as terrorists for wanting to live free.

For young Americans, however, “the conversation about Zionism in America is dramatically different from what it was only a few years ago.” Facts slowly displace fiction. Truths reach people wanting to know.

Anti-Semitism is an outworn canard. It’s become “an exercise in self-caricature.” Public support for Israel is eroding. Perhaps one day political Washington will notice. How it reacts is another matter altogether, and the same goes for racist European governments.

Understanding is one thing, policy another. Change so far is nowhere in sight. Palestinians know best of all.

Aside from issues of divide, conquer and control, Hass wrote about five Gazan women accepted to attend Bir Zeit University. Four hope to earn master’s degrees in gender studies.

Three are in their 40s, one in her 30s, and a fifth just graduated from high school with honors.

Israel blocks their admission. It refuses passage rights through its territory to the West Bank. Security is claimed for justification. At issue is racist persecution, not fear of a terrorist attack.

“The State Attorney’s Office knows it is difficult to argue persuasively that four middle-aged women who have worked for years to advance women’s rights in the Strip, and one young woman (the daughter of a well-known jurist), will export terror infrastructure to the West Bank.”

Instead it says the state has “broad authority to determine” who’s granted entry rights. With regard to students posing no threat, the argument is spurious on its face.

Gisha attorneys say Gaza merchants enter Israel for work meetings. Why them and not students? Does modest easing on commerce matter more than education? Do men get rights denied women?

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967. He remained there until retiring at year end 1999. Writing on major world and national issues began in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. Distinguished guests are featured. Listen live or archived. Major world and national issues are discussed. Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient.

About Stephen

Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967.